Three Toronto Cops Charged with Assault, But That’s Basically All They’ll Tell Us

Ontario's police watchdog announced on Tuesday that it has charged three Toronto cops with assault causing bodily harm, but released virtually no information about what is alleged to have occurred.

The Special Investigations Unit has known for over a year about the alleged 2013 incident involving constables John Darnell, Piara Dhaliwal, and Adam Morris, but only disclosed it on Tuesday.

It blamed "limited resources" for its silence on the allegations until now.

"In the evening hours of February 13, 2013, officers arrested a 46-year-old man at his home and placed him in the back of a police cruiser," according to the SIU, which has been investigating since August 2015. "While transporting the man to the police station, there was an interaction between the man and three officers.

"The man was taken to the Humber River Regional Hospital for examination, and it was later determined that he suffered a serious injury."

Darnell, Dhaliwal, Morris are set to appear in court on November 3.

The SIU, an arm's length body that investigates incidents involving police that end in injury or death, said as the matter is now before the courts, declined to comment any further.

The Toronto police deferred questions to the SIU, but confirmed that all three officers have been suspended with pay.

In the past, the agency has publicly announced the launch of an investigation, but no such press release was put out last summer, when it began looking into the matter.

Spokesperson Monica Hudon said the SIU hears about hundreds of incidents every year, and given its "limited resources," it's not feasible in all cases to issue an initial news release — a matter the agency is trying to address as part of the province's independent police oversight review being done by Justice Michael Tulloch.

"At a minimum, the SIU is committed to issuing initial news releases in all death cases, whenever a firearm is used and for major vehicle collisions," Hudon said.

The SIU has been heavily criticized over the past two years for a lack of transparency. Few details about their investigations are released before their probe concludes, and even then, only a summary of an internal report is made public.

In 2014-2015, the agency cleared 94.5 percent of officers of any wrongdoing.

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